In at the deep end

Following its recent acquisition of deep hole drilling specialists, BTA Heller Drilling Systems, Sandvik Coromant has officially opened its new global Application Centre for Deep Hole Machining (DHM) in Cirencester. As Dave Tudor learned at the inaugural opening of the Centre, the strategic rationale behind the investment is potential growth predominantly in the energy, power generation, aerospace and oil and gas sectors. Like many companies operating in the manufacturing sector, Sandvik is seeing welcome signs of recovery and Magnus Ekbäck, Sandvik Coromant UK's managing director is upbeat about the future. “We are seeing business levels improving and some stability emerging,” he reveals. “I would say that we are now around 20% down when compared to 2008 but things are moving in the right direction. Many of our customers have undertaken destocking initiatives and we are now seeing a positive rise in orders. It's still tough out there but I'm hopeful that we will be back to 2008 levels within one to two years.” For Sandvik, Mr Ekbäck believes that application centres – particularly in specialised disciplines such as deep hole drilling and machining – are the way forward in terms of helping customers become more productive and the Cirencester facility is testament to that belief. “Customer needs and requirements have changed beyond recognition in recent years,” he observes. “It's no longer good enough to provide products in isolation. Customers need total solutions to manufacturing challenges but often don't have the knowledge, expertise, experience or equipment in-house to provide those solutions. Our application centres effectively fill that void by providing specialised support backed by the Sandvik brand.” Role playing Sandvik's application centres effectively perform three roles: to develop innovative solutions for new or existing components on behalf of its customers; to work on customer projects and process validation and; demonstrations and training. “The bottom line is to develop robust process solutions that will enhance our customers' productivity and reduce costs,” Mr Ekbäck adds. “Application centres enable us to achieve this on a localised, more personal level rather than through centralised, more global resources.” The DHM Cirencester facility is Sandvik's seventh application centre and will provide deep hole machining expertise on a global basis. Sandvik has played an active role in deep hole drilling technology through its tooling solutions for many years and it claims the acquisition of BTA Heller will enhance and reinforce its market position significantly. “BTA Heller was located in Cirencester and had a turnover of £3 million,” Mr Ekbäck explains. “It has been a major player in the deep hole drilling sector for many years and has developed a wealth of expertise and experience. I'm pleased to announce that following the acquisition, we've been able to retain all of BTA's 12 members of staff which will be a real asset.” The company believes that the choice of terminology is important here and is keen to differentiate between deep hole drilling and deep hole machining – the latter being a more encompassing term comprising not only drilling but related disciplines and features such as counterboring, bottle or cavity boring and skiving/float reaming. High hopes The previous owners of BTA Heller, Simon Lawes and Tony Evans with combined deep hole machining experience of over 60 years will play key roles in the new DHM venture taking on senior management roles under the watchful eye of Mike Walker who fills the newly created position of global business development manager. “The creation of my role, along with the inauguration of the new Application Centre is a clear sign that Sandvik Coromant want to focus on the specialised technology area of DHM,” Mr Walker confirms. “It's an activity that has many goals, but primarily the aim is to increase Sandvik Coromant's customer support in DHM. One of the ways to achieve this is by developing innovative products, applications and solutions that are geared to customer productivity and total cost reduction.” While hole making is the most common procedure performed on a modern machining centre, hole production beyond a diameter to depth ratio of 5:1 generally requires more specialised machines and cutting tools. The processes involved fall under the DHM umbrella. As Mr Walker enthuses, he has high hopes for the future of the Cirencester facility. “The demand for DHM is in the ascendancy, with new and interesting applications arising almost continuously across many industry sectors,” he says. “As far as I'm aware, there are no other facilities like our new Application Centre for DHM anywhere in the world and in terms of what it can offer our customers, it has three prime areas of purpose: to undertake collaboration projects with customer, industrial and academic partners; to develop new products and applications; and to carry out technology specific training programmes.” He continues: “The market for DHM offers significant opportunities in areas such as power generation and energy – particularly oil and gas, and nuclear – China will be among the main drivers here. Regarding oil and gas, key applications for DHM include down hole tools, manifold blocks, valves, heat exchangers, stabilisers and collars. Other important markets for DHM include aerospace, primary metals and the petrochemical industry. All of these are global segments and all offer significant commercial opportunities. “Although the new Application Centre is a global hub, the fact that it happens to be based in the UK is good fortune for customers here,” he adds. “It's obviously easier logistically for a customer in Yorkshire to send engineers on one of our technical training courses in Cirencester than for a customer in Beijing. However, ultimately it's an excellent opportunity for all customers of Sandvik Coromant to engage in face to face collaboration with our team of DHM specialists.” The hole story Mr Walker is keen to emphasise that specialist knowledge is the most important ingredient in successful DHM. “It is vital to comprehend what happens inside a hole as it is being drilled and how this knowledge guides the selection of the most effective techniques,” he affirms. “Strategies for DHM address three primary issues: evacuating chips without damaging surface finish; delivering coolant to keep the drill and workpiece cool; and minimising cycle times. Other important factors include accuracy, repeatability and surface finish.” (X Head) Machine modifications A quick walk downstairs from the upstairs office area at the Cirencester facility and you enter the main machining area which is home to a Craven deep hole drilling machine capable of internal profiling and chamber boring, a small turning centre for machining guide pads, and measuring equipment for setting tools and checking component features. Data output from the deep hole drilling machine will allow the metal cutting processes to be recorded and analysed during operations, while copies of the data will be available so any future replications can be measured against a benchmark. Originally manufactured in 1966, the Craven machine is a modified deep hole borer that can machine components up to 2.5m in length and 600mm diameter. In terms of modifications, one of the most significant is the use of constant torque spindle motors on the travelling and fixed headstocks. Tony Evans, business development manager, sales and marketing for deep hole machining explains why this is important. “This machine can handle workpieces up to 2.5m in length providing part concentricities of 0.1mm, 0.05mm tolerances on diameters and 0.8 RA surface finishes so we need high levels of torque at low speeds. “The constant torque spindle motors on the main headstock provide speeds of 1rpm to 1,000rpm whilst the motors on the travelling headstock give 1rpm to 4,000rpm. Compared to conventional deep hole borers, this provides much wider flexibility and performance.” By Mr Evans' own admission, the machine, with an overall length of 10m and weighing 18,000kg is a ‘baby' in deep hole machining terms but the emphasis during machine selection was on accuracy, precision and flexibility rather than sheer size. “The machine has been optimised to take advantage of modern carbide grade tooling,” Mr Evans divulges. “Parts can generally be machined in one hit start to finish and the inherent flexibility and accuracy of the machine means that deep hole machined features can be produced with no sharp edges or stress raisers – which is absolutely vital in this type of work.” Share and share alike As the Cirencester operation is a global application centre, the sharing of knowledge and data is essential as customers could be located anywhere in the world. With this in mind, the control element of the Craven machine is hooked up not only to the company server, but also to the Internet so that data can be shared. There are four cameras built into the machine for live links with customers – ideal for real time process verification and R&D work. In addition, intelligent machining capabilities and advanced data capture technology provides real time information on elements such as thrust loads, torque loads and coolant flow and pressure as well as vibration analysis. All of this information can be stored, analysed and used for future reference or provided to customers for verification purposes. Sandvik Coromant
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